Book Report Forrest Murphy The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict Author: Trenton Lee Stewart Why I chose this book I chose this book for the Quarterone book report because I was already reading it when we started the project, it’s a fun read and really quite enjoyable, and it’s a prequel to a series that I really liked which deals with Nicholas Benedict more in depth. I also chose this book because it shows Nicholas as a child, whereas in the original trilogy he was already grown up. This book gave me more of an understanding of the person he became and why he did what he did in the original series.
The book falls into two main genres, one being children’s and the other being mystery. I think the book falls into the children genre because Trenton Lee Stewart has written children’s books, because there is no profanity or foul language at all, and because the book is about children at an orphanage. The book is written from a child’s point of view, a child is the main character, and the child is very smart and outsmarts the adults in the story. In addition, I think the book fits into the genre of mystery because throughout the main story line, Nicholas Benedict is trying to find a lost treasure, and a missing fortune. The story takes us through the discoveries Nicholas finds while he is trying to solve the mystery.
Summary of the plot Nicholas Benedict is starting over at a new orphanage. He is moving from his old orphanage because he has a sleep disorder called Narcolepsy that causes him to pass out any time he gets too emotional. He also screams out from nightmares almost every night. The arrangement at Rothschild’s End, the new orphanage, lets him sleep in his own room away from the rest of the children so as not to disturb their sleep. Actually, Nicolas is a bit isolated. When he first arrives at the orphanage, he meets a boy named John Cole who soon becomes his friend. Through John, Nicholas learns that there are three boys who are the bullies of the place, and they are known as the “Spiders.” Usually when a new child arrives at the orphanage the Spiders put him or her through initiation. Initiation involves getting your head dunked in a toilet while they flush it repeatedly. When Nicolas hears about this ritual he passes out from the dread. Then John Cole helps him to his room, and they sneak through the back door so the Spiders cannot intercept them. Even though Nicholas has a sleep disorder, he is very gifted and has an excellent memory. Nicholas, not wanting to go through initiation, was determined to think his way out of it. When the Spiders caught on to his plan to avoid them and the initiation, they threatened everyone that ‘if you even so much as talk to Nicholas they would take you into their own hands, literally.’ At first Nicholas had no one to talk to, but eventually John joins him in his exile. No sooner than he arrived at Rothschild’s End Nicholas found out that there was a missing treasure and a misplaced fortune that had been left behind by Mr. Rothschild’s wife. Mr. Rothschild was a very rich man who owned the estate before it was converted into an orphanage. Nicolas was intrigued and made it his mission to find the treasure. At first Nicholas thought that the secret of the treasure was hidden in the observatory, which had long been forgotten and seemed a good hiding place. All he found was that the giant amateur telescope that Mr. Rothschild had purchased had been stolen by the former head of the orphanage. With that, his hopes were soon diminished and he started to look elsewhere. While trying to find the treasure, he meets a deaf girl named Violet. Violet lives on a farm next to the orphanage. She and John become Nicholas’ only friends for most of the story. Nicholas, John, and Violet continue to search for the treasure and their search leads Nicholas to ask Mr. Collum, the head of the orphanage, for a trip to the Stonetown Library. Stonetown is the major city in the area, and is a day’s train ride away. Mr. Collum is also looking for the missing fortune and treasure because the orphanage is running out of money. The previous director, according to John Cole, was careless and blew through the money the Rothschild’s provided. When Mr. Collum hears that Nicholas wants to do a report gathering all the information about the treasure, he whole heartily obliges. Of course Nicholas didn’t tell him that he wanted to gather information for his own reasons, and not for the orphanage. His trip to the Stonetown Library proves unsuccessful. Nicolas was going to read all the newspaper articles from the year Mrs. Rothschild gained her inheritance from her father; however, the library didn’t even exist until the year after Mrs. Rothschild gained her inheritance. When Nicholas got back to Rothschild’s End, he found that John, his only friend at the orphanage, was adopted during his absence, and the letter John left him had been burned by the Spiders. Later that night Nicholas ran away and headed for Stonetown. On his way there he meets a very nice man named Mr. Harniton who notices right away that Nicholas is a runaway. Mr. Harniton buys him lunch, and dinner and tries to get him to make the right decision and go back to the orphanage. With Mr. Harinton’s help he gets back to the orphanage.
Nicholas Benedict Nicholas is an orphan and the main character of the book. His parents died in a lab accident when he was an infant. Nicholas is nine years old and gets most of his information from books, including his ability to use sign language. On one hand, Nicolas lies and is disobedient. On the other hand he’s extremely gifted and has a memory like a steel trap; so, Mr. Collum tells him, “your chaperone, Mrs. Ferrier, seemed eager to convince me that there is little that you do not understand.” Nicholas is so smart that he finds out the mystery first, and after turning over a new leaf tells Mr. Collum, “and I have solved the mystery, and I am prepared to share with you what I know.” John Cole John Cole is 12 years old, and is Mr. Collum’s favorite child at the orphanage because he is so obedient. John is friendly, likeable, and even gets adopted during the story. John basically plays an ally and friend to Nicholas throughout the book, and he is upset when has to leave without saying goodbye to Nicolas. In protest, he says, “he was my friend, Mr. Collum! My friend!” When John gets adopted by Violet’s parents, Nicolas is happy for him and asks Violet, “you? You…you asked your parents to adopt John! You’re the family that adopted him?” Mr. Collum Mr. Collum is a very uptight man who came to the orphanage in an effort to save it, because the previous director drained all the money. He doesn’t really like children, and his main reason for trying to save the orphanage is to protect his reputation. To make sure that Mrs. Ferrier did not think he caused the orphanage’s financial problems, he said “I assumed directorship of the Manor only this spring, as I’m sure Mr. Cuckieu told you.” On a daily basis the children try to avoid him because he is the one who hands out the punishments and extra work. Mr. Collum plays Nicholas’ adversary and the person Nicolas is racing against to find the treasure. Though Nicolas is not worried, “he has no more idea where to look than I do,” Nicholas thought with relief. “Which means that for the moment, anyway, we’re even.”
Big Ideas (found in the story) Some of the themes were Nicholas’ tendency to lie, disobey the rules and the bullies, and make friends. The primary theme is Nicholas’ tendency to lie, mostly to adults. He usually lies because all of his life he has been in orphanages and isn’t very trusting, especially of adults. The only people that he doesn’t at least stretch the truth with are John and Violet. Nicholas also disobeys most of the rules. For example, the children are locked in their rooms at night; so, Nicolas steals the original key to make a copy of the key to his room. Even though he isn’t supposed to have a key, as luck would have it the key he copied ends up being a skeleton key for the entire house. This stroke of luck leads to even more mischief for him and John. Nicholas also has to deal with bullies who are quite dull, and at first he outwits then at every corner. But, as time goes on he slips up and they humiliate him. In the end though, he gives them an offer they can’t refuse, and they agree to stop bullying, not only him but all the other children. The last of the big ideas, is how Nicholas makes friends. Before he came to Rothschild’s End he had never had a friend before. As he makes friends, he is so surprised because people usually resent his intelligence and tend not to like him. He has a hard time telling his new friends about some of the things that he’s done, for fear that the truth might get out. Yet, Nicholas’ friends confide their secrets in him.
Major Conflict The major conflict is that Nicolas is racing against Mr. Collum to find the missing treasure and inheritance. While Mr. Collum wants the treasure to benefit the orphanage and all the children, Nicholas wants the treasure for him, John, and Violet. The mystery is that there was a missing treasure that Mrs. Rothschild had; along with the treasure she inherited from her father who, like her husband, was a very rich man. After their deaths, they left money to have their house converted into an orphanage, and the treasure and inheritance mysteriously disappeared. Along with Nicholas, Mr. Collum is hoping to find the treasure, because the former director wasted the Rothschild fortune, and left the place in financial shambles. Through a series of events Nicholas is the first one to find the missing treasure and the inheritance. After visiting the Stonetown Library, which revealed no new clues, reviewing the ledgers containing Mr. Rothschild’s finances, and looking through old newspaper articles, Nicolas uncovered the mystery of the lost fortune. Ordinarily, sharing his findings about the treasure with Mr. Collum would have been the last thing Nicolas would’ve done; but, after meeting Mr. Harinton, who was so nice to him, he decides to find the treasure for the orphanage. As a result, the first thing he does is share the location of the treasure with Mr. Collum and tells him what happened to the Rothschild fortune. There is a bit of a conflict between the Rothschilds, and how some of the money was spent. Since Mrs. Rothschild loved to read, Mr. Rothschild had all of the books in their library recovered while they were on vacation. And as for Mrs. Rothschild’s inheritance, she donated all of it towards the construction of the Stonetown Library, but under the name of the Alexandria Foundation; so, no one knew it was her. This means, that only the remainder of Mr. Rothschild’s fortune was reserved for the orphanage, not Mrs. Rothschild’s inheritance as originally thought.
Some works that have similarities to this book In my view, the closest thing to this book is the sequels to this book: The Mysterious Benedict Society (MBS), The MBS and the Perilous Journey, The MBS and Prisoner’s Dilemma. Of the trilogy, the first book was probably most similar because Nicolas was the main character in both, and both stories dealt with gifted children that solved mysteries. While Nicolas is the only gifted child in the current book, in the sequel he partners with four gifted children to accomplish the difficult task of preventing his brother from taking over the world. Nicholas Benedict is one of the main characters in both stories, and even though Nicholas is grown up in The Mysterious Benedict Society, the stories take place in the same general setting. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict takes places in Pebbleton and Stonetown, whereas the sequel takes place mostly in Stonetown. The current book and the other sequels are also similar. They deal with Nicholas directly, and with the idea of gifted children taking on big tasks. Some similar stories that I’ve read include the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series, both of which described gifted children – a wizard and a demigod – who used their talents to help other people and solve mysteries. In addition, reaching way back, the stories remind me of the A to Z Mystery series, because both the book and the series deal with solving mysteries, as well as sharing the adventures of children solving the mysteries.
Knowledge is Gold
I drew this bookshelf because it turns out that the Rothschild’s library in the orphanage was the treasure, and Nicholas thought that the treasure was gold until he solved the mystery. He even had an image in his head of Mrs. Rothschild hording her gold treasure, which reminded me of the dragon from Beowulf who gallantly protected his golden treasures. Like Nicolas, Mr. Collum believed that the treasure left behind consisted of gold. They were both right. In my view, this picture reflects that to the Rothschild’s the knowledge that their library held was their treasure. The picture also symbolizes how Mr. Rothschild having the books recovered and bound with gold embroidery, did in fact make the books, their treasure, gold.
Five Definitions I.“You have an eidetic memory.” Eidetic – of, pertaining to, or constituting visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible with great accuracy and in great detail. II.“Through the mirror Nicholas had watched Mr. Collum’s face grow annoyed and had seen him close the ledger (the all-important ledger) and remove his jeweler’s loupe.” Loupe - any of several varieties of magnifying glasses, used by jewelers and watchmakers, of from 2 to 20 power and intended to fit in the eye socket, to be attached to spectacles, or to be held in the hand. III.“And so last night, after months of secrecy and subterfuge, I was at last able to revel to Di the great surprise – her treasure completely recovered!”Subterfuge - an artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc. IV.“In reality it had been quite austere, nothing but cots and lockers.”Austere - severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding: an austere teacher. V.“The night was mild and warm, though the moon gave every surface a frosty appearance, and the thin ringing sound of crickets, frogs, cicadas, and other tiny creatures made Nicholas imagine infinitesimal tambourines being jingled behind every leaf and bush.” Infinitesimal - indefinitely or exceedingly small.
Forrest Murphy
The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict
Author: Trenton Lee Stewart
Why I chose this book
I chose this book for the Quarterone book report because I was already reading it when we started the project, it’s a fun read and really quite enjoyable, and it’s a prequel to a series that I really liked which deals with Nicholas Benedict more in depth. I also chose this book because it shows Nicholas as a child, whereas in the original trilogy he was already grown up. This book gave me more of an understanding of the person he became and why he did what he did in the original series.
The book falls into two main genres, one being children’s and the other being mystery. I think the book falls into the children genre because Trenton Lee Stewart has written children’s books, because there is no profanity or foul language at all, and because the book is about children at an orphanage. The book is written from a child’s point of view, a child is the main character, and the child is very smart and outsmarts the adults in the story. In addition, I think the book fits into the genre of mystery because throughout the main story line, Nicholas Benedict is trying to find a lost treasure, and a missing fortune. The story takes us through the discoveries Nicholas finds while he is trying to solve the mystery.
Summary of the plot
Nicholas Benedict is starting over at a new orphanage. He is moving from his old orphanage because he has a sleep disorder called Narcolepsy that causes him to pass out any time he gets too emotional. He also screams out from nightmares almost every night. The arrangement at Rothschild’s End, the new orphanage, lets him sleep in his own room away from the rest of the children so as not to disturb their sleep. Actually, Nicolas is a bit isolated.
When he first arrives at the orphanage, he meets a boy named John Cole who soon becomes his friend. Through John, Nicholas learns that there are three boys who are the bullies of the place, and they are known as the “Spiders.” Usually when a new child arrives at the orphanage the Spiders put him or her through initiation. Initiation involves getting your head dunked in a toilet while they flush it repeatedly. When Nicolas hears about this ritual he passes out from the dread. Then John Cole helps him to his room, and they sneak through the back door so the Spiders cannot intercept them.
Even though Nicholas has a sleep disorder, he is very gifted and has an excellent memory. Nicholas, not wanting to go through initiation, was determined to think his way out of it. When the Spiders caught on to his plan to avoid them and the initiation, they threatened everyone that ‘if you even so much as talk to Nicholas they would take you into their own hands, literally.’ At first Nicholas had no one to talk to, but eventually John joins him in his exile.
No sooner than he arrived at Rothschild’s End Nicholas found out that there was a missing treasure and a misplaced fortune that had been left behind by Mr. Rothschild’s wife. Mr. Rothschild was a very rich man who owned the estate before it was converted into an orphanage.
Nicolas was intrigued and made it his mission to find the treasure. At first Nicholas thought that the secret of the treasure was hidden in the observatory, which had long been forgotten and seemed a good hiding place. All he found was that the giant amateur telescope that Mr. Rothschild had purchased had been stolen by the former head of the orphanage. With that, his hopes were soon diminished and he started to look elsewhere.
While trying to find the treasure, he meets a deaf girl named Violet. Violet lives on a farm next to the orphanage. She and John become Nicholas’ only friends for most of the story. Nicholas, John, and Violet continue to search for the treasure and their search leads Nicholas to ask Mr. Collum, the head of the orphanage, for a trip to the Stonetown Library. Stonetown is the major city in the area, and is a day’s train ride away.
Mr. Collum is also looking for the missing fortune and treasure because the orphanage is running out of money. The previous director, according to John Cole, was careless and blew through the money the Rothschild’s provided. When Mr. Collum hears that Nicholas wants to do a report gathering all the information about the treasure, he whole heartily obliges. Of course Nicholas didn’t tell him that he wanted to gather information for his own reasons, and not for the orphanage.
His trip to the Stonetown Library proves unsuccessful. Nicolas was going to read all the newspaper articles from the year Mrs. Rothschild gained her inheritance from her father; however, the library didn’t even exist until the year after Mrs. Rothschild gained her inheritance.
When Nicholas got back to Rothschild’s End, he found that John, his only friend at the orphanage, was adopted during his absence, and the letter John left him had been burned by the Spiders. Later that night Nicholas ran away and headed for Stonetown. On his way there he meets a very nice man named Mr. Harniton who notices right away that Nicholas is a runaway. Mr. Harniton buys him lunch, and dinner and tries to get him to make the right decision and go back to the orphanage. With Mr. Harinton’s help he gets back to the orphanage.
Nicholas Benedict
Nicholas is an orphan and the main character of the book. His parents died in a lab accident when he was an infant. Nicholas is nine years old and gets most of his information from books, including his ability to use sign language. On one hand, Nicolas lies and is disobedient. On the other hand he’s extremely gifted and has a memory like a steel trap; so, Mr. Collum tells him, “your chaperone, Mrs. Ferrier, seemed eager to convince me that there is little that you do not understand.” Nicholas is so smart that he finds out the mystery first, and after turning over a new leaf tells Mr. Collum, “and I have solved the mystery, and I am prepared to share with you what I know.”
John Cole
John Cole is 12 years old, and is Mr. Collum’s favorite child at the orphanage because he is so obedient. John is friendly, likeable, and even gets adopted during the story. John basically plays an ally and friend to Nicholas throughout the book, and he is upset when has to leave without saying goodbye to Nicolas. In protest, he says, “he was my friend, Mr. Collum! My friend!” When John gets adopted by Violet’s parents, Nicolas is happy for him and asks Violet, “you? You…you asked your parents to adopt John! You’re the family that adopted him?”
Mr. Collum
Mr. Collum is a very uptight man who came to the orphanage in an effort to save it, because the previous director drained all the money. He doesn’t really like children, and his main reason for trying to save the orphanage is to protect his reputation. To make sure that Mrs. Ferrier did not think he caused the orphanage’s financial problems, he said “I assumed directorship of the Manor only this spring, as I’m sure Mr. Cuckieu told you.” On a daily basis the children try to avoid him because he is the one who hands out the punishments and extra work. Mr. Collum plays Nicholas’ adversary and the person Nicolas is racing against to find the treasure. Though Nicolas is not worried, “he has no more idea where to look than I do,” Nicholas thought with relief. “Which means that for the moment, anyway, we’re even.”
Big Ideas (found in the story)
Some of the themes were Nicholas’ tendency to lie, disobey the rules and the bullies, and make friends. The primary theme is Nicholas’ tendency to lie, mostly to adults. He usually lies because all of his life he has been in orphanages and isn’t very trusting, especially of adults. The only people that he doesn’t at least stretch the truth with are John and Violet. Nicholas also disobeys most of the rules. For example, the children are locked in their rooms at night; so, Nicolas steals the original key to make a copy of the key to his room. Even though he isn’t supposed to have a key, as luck would have it the key he copied ends up being a skeleton key for the entire house. This stroke of luck leads to even more mischief for him and John.
Nicholas also has to deal with bullies who are quite dull, and at first he outwits then at every corner. But, as time goes on he slips up and they humiliate him. In the end though, he gives them an offer they can’t refuse, and they agree to stop bullying, not only him but all the other children.
The last of the big ideas, is how Nicholas makes friends. Before he came to Rothschild’s End he had never had a friend before. As he makes friends, he is so surprised because people usually resent his intelligence and tend not to like him. He has a hard time telling his new friends about some of the things that he’s done, for fear that the truth might get out. Yet, Nicholas’ friends confide their secrets in him.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is that Nicolas is racing against Mr. Collum to find the missing treasure and inheritance. While Mr. Collum wants the treasure to benefit the orphanage and all the children, Nicholas wants the treasure for him, John, and Violet.
The mystery is that there was a missing treasure that Mrs. Rothschild had; along with the treasure she inherited from her father who, like her husband, was a very rich man. After their deaths, they left money to have their house converted into an orphanage, and the treasure and inheritance mysteriously disappeared. Along with Nicholas, Mr. Collum is hoping to find the treasure, because the former director wasted the Rothschild fortune, and left the place in financial shambles.
Through a series of events Nicholas is the first one to find the missing treasure and the inheritance. After visiting the Stonetown Library, which revealed no new clues, reviewing the ledgers containing Mr. Rothschild’s finances, and looking through old newspaper articles, Nicolas uncovered the mystery of the lost fortune. Ordinarily, sharing his findings about the treasure with Mr. Collum would have been the last thing Nicolas would’ve done; but, after meeting Mr. Harinton, who was so nice to him, he decides to find the treasure for the orphanage. As a result, the first thing he does is share the location of the treasure with Mr. Collum and tells him what happened to the Rothschild fortune.
There is a bit of a conflict between the Rothschilds, and how some of the money was spent. Since Mrs. Rothschild loved to read, Mr. Rothschild had all of the books in their library recovered while they were on vacation. And as for Mrs. Rothschild’s inheritance, she donated all of it towards the construction of the Stonetown Library, but under the name of the Alexandria Foundation; so, no one knew it was her. This means, that only the remainder of Mr. Rothschild’s fortune was reserved for the orphanage, not Mrs. Rothschild’s inheritance as originally thought.
Some works that have similarities to this book
In my view, the closest thing to this book is the sequels to this book: The Mysterious Benedict Society (MBS), The MBS and the Perilous Journey, The MBS and Prisoner’s Dilemma. Of the trilogy, the first book was probably most similar because Nicolas was the main character in both, and both stories dealt with gifted children that solved mysteries. While Nicolas is the only gifted child in the current book, in the sequel he partners with four gifted children to accomplish the difficult task of preventing his brother from taking over the world. Nicholas Benedict is one of the main characters in both stories, and even though Nicholas is grown up in The Mysterious Benedict Society, the stories take place in the same general setting. The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict takes places in Pebbleton and Stonetown, whereas the sequel takes place mostly in Stonetown.
The current book and the other sequels are also similar. They deal with Nicholas directly, and with the idea of gifted children taking on big tasks. Some similar stories that I’ve read include the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series, both of which described gifted children – a wizard and a demigod – who used their talents to help other people and solve mysteries. In addition, reaching way back, the stories remind me of the A to Z Mystery series, because both the book and the series deal with solving mysteries, as well as sharing the adventures of children solving the mysteries.
Knowledge is Gold
I drew this bookshelf because it turns out that the Rothschild’s library in the orphanage was the treasure, and Nicholas thought that the treasure was gold until he solved the mystery. He even had an image in his head of Mrs. Rothschild hording her gold treasure, which reminded me of the dragon from Beowulf who gallantly protected his golden treasures. Like Nicolas, Mr. Collum believed that the treasure left behind consisted of gold. They were both right.
In my view, this picture reflects that to the Rothschild’s the knowledge that their library held was their treasure. The picture also symbolizes how Mr. Rothschild having the books recovered and bound with gold embroidery, did in fact make the books, their treasure, gold.
Five Definitions
I. “You have an eidetic memory.” Eidetic – of, pertaining to, or constituting visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible with great accuracy and in great detail.
II. “Through the mirror Nicholas had watched Mr. Collum’s face grow annoyed and had seen him close the ledger (the all-important ledger) and remove his jeweler’s loupe.” Loupe - any of several varieties of magnifying glasses, used by jewelers and watchmakers, of from 2 to 20 power and intended to fit in the eye socket, to be attached to spectacles, or to be held in the hand.
III. “And so last night, after months of secrecy and subterfuge, I was at last able to revel to Di the great surprise – her treasure completely recovered!” Subterfuge - an artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc.
IV. “In reality it had been quite austere, nothing but cots and lockers.” Austere - severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding: an austere teacher.
V. “The night was mild and warm, though the moon gave every surface a frosty appearance, and the thin ringing sound of crickets, frogs, cicadas, and other tiny creatures made Nicholas imagine infinitesimal tambourines being jingled behind every leaf and bush.” Infinitesimal - indefinitely or exceedingly small.
Link to my good reads review
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428202858